Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – Striking three times with under three minutes to play, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners rallied late to defeat the Hearst Lumberjacks 4-2 Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
Striking first, the Gold Miners’ Mavrick Boucher wheeled into the Lumberjacks zone and while using a defender as a screen wired a shot past the blocker of netminder Jack Helkie near the midway mark of the opening frame.
Still 1-0 Kirkland Lake into the second stanza, Hearst tied it via the power play when Dylan Westmann neatly steered in a feed put through the crease by Luc Warner, that got by goalkeeper Morgan Hyndman.
Remaining knotted at one into the third period, Cameron Menard’s league-leading 19th put the Lumberjacks ahead at 7:15 as he was spotted by Warner and quickly blasted in his chance from the slot.
Pulling even with 2:41 to go, Boucher lifted in a backhand from the top of the crease.
Owen O’Grady then got the game-winner 40 seconds later for the guests as he went hard to the net from the left side and got just enough of a chance to squeak it across the goal line.
Wrapping up the comeback before time expired, Nathan Harper put one into an empty net to round out the scoring.
With the outcome, the Gold Miners improve to 14-3-1-0 overall, while with the loss, the Lumberjacks fall to 12-6-2-0.
